Captain Craig Poole, 40, was the Commanding Officer of the Artemis, a science and exploration vessel belonging to Interstellar Federation.
His wife, Clarissa, 38, lived with him on the vessel as the ship's intergalactic anthropologist and linguistics expert. Their home planet, Psion Beta 9, a planet in the Simto star system in Beta Quadrant, was the governmental seat of Interstellar Federation.
They had three children; a son, CJ, who was 17, a daughter, Starla, who was 16, and another daughter, Astra, who was 14. The kids lived with them on the ship.
Craig was a bear of a man, tall (6'5"), with a deep resonant voice, short dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was extremely muscular, with six-pack abs and a chestful of dark brown hair that peeked through his uniform shirt. At 40, he still had a physique that could take your breath away.
The female crewmembers, human and alien alike, all loved it when he was jogging through the ship's hallways or exercising in the fitness center.
They felt the same way about the doctor, Brant.
Clarissa wasn't jealous about the attention Craig received when jogging or exercising. She knew she was his one-and-only, his soulmate, the love of his life. He felt the same way about her. They were constantly hugging and kissing, much to the embarrassment of their three teens!
She was 5'8", buxom and curvy, with auburn hair that came halfway to her waist. She was also a fashionista.
Their kids were miniatures of each of them. CJ was more like Craig physically and in temperament, while Starla and Astra were more like their mom in those respects. The girls were fashionistas every bit as much as their mother was!
Rarely did the Poole ladies not wear makeup or do something fancy with their hair! Their fingernails and toenails were always painted in bright colors.
One day, one week after leaving Phion S-Nine, Craig said over the ship's intercom,
“Ladies and gentlemen, it's official. We're now truly pioneers and explorers.
”I don't know what we'll find over the next several years, but I'm thrilled and excited to start! Let's go get them and then see what's out there, shall we?"
The bridge crew broke out into broad smiles and cheers, as did the entire crew.
Five minutes later, his wife and kids arrived on the bridge, excited to start this journey with him.
Soon it was time to head into the unknown.
They were part of two exploration vessels on a joint mission with several other Federations, Collectives and Empires to explore the outer reaches and edges of the galaxy. One vessel, the Archer, was to explore one part of the galaxy, while the Hudson was to explore the other part.
The mission was to last 6 years, but everyone knew it could be longer or, worst case scenario, over in no time whatsoever, depending on what was found out there.
“Alright, everybody. Here we go. Sully, indulge yourself!", he said to the helmsman, Major Sullivan ”Sully” Decker.
Sully immediately set the ship at Warp 4...and they were off!
Craig and Clarissa gave each other a hug and very passionate kiss, then hugged their kids tightly.
Over the next several weeks, the crew of the Artemis occasionally saw stars and barren planets with no signs of life. They orbited the planets as they did their research. T'Planh enjoyed plotting the newly discovered stars and planets in charts.
Away teams, which always included Clarissa, would occasionally go down to a planet to bring back samples of soil, water and plants. They'd also scan the planet's terrain. She specifically looked for evidence of lost civilizations and their languages.
They'd orbit each planet the away teams visited for at least 2 to 3 days. They took their time in order to thoroughly investigate each planet.
Mostly, though, they traveled through blackness. They were alone light years from any charted territory. This continued for three months. The crew was getting antsy.
One day, T'Planh finally detected something.
“Commander, I'm picking something up on scans about 2000 kilometers from us.”, he said.
“Onscreen.”, Craig replied.
Moments later, an odd-looking vessel appeared onscreen. Clarissa and the kids were there, having stopped by to ask him something. They looked at the craft with as much interest as Craig and the bridge crew did.
“What the hell is that?
”T'Planh, can you identify its registry or where it's from?", he asked.
”No, Sir. There are no records of that type of craft anywhere in historical records from over 30 alien races. As far as I can tell, we're the only ones from outside of this territory to ever see this type of vessel or, at the very least, to put it in historical records. My only guess is that it might possibly be some kind of freighter.
“It's quite...literally...unidentifiable, Commander. We Cardistanians have never even seen anything like it before.“
The alien ship was round, appeared to be about 4 stories high, with nacelles standing straight down from, and on top of, the craft.
The ship was moving slowly towards the Hudson.
“They're drifting, Sir.”, T'Planh said.
“Drifting? Seriously?”, asked Craig, shocked.
“I'm serious. It's just drifting out there. Looks like it's been in one helluva battle too, and practically destroyed.”, said T'Planh.
“Any signs of life?”, Craig asked.
“I'm not sure. I'm scanning one, two...no just one...no, two very faint heat signatures. I'm really not sure. I honestly don't know what it is.”, T'Planh replied.
“Open a hailing frequency, Lieutenant.”, Craig said to the communications officer.
“There's no answer, Sir.”, she replied a minute later.
“Let's put a tractor beam on them, for their safety and ours.”, Craig said.
“May I suggest we send an extraction team to check it out and see if there are any survivors? As weak as the heat signatures are, it should be done immediately and with med techs. If those are indeed life signs, time is of the essence.”, T'Planh replied.
“Alright. Dr. Ortkhat, I need a med evac shuttle and two med techs in the hangar bay immediately.
”We've got an emergency rescue. We're probably dealing with critically or possibly even gravely ill patients.”, Craig said as he contacted sick bay.
”T'Planh, go down with them. Keep me informed as to what's going on there. Full life support suits, everyone. Bring extra oxygen as well. Be careful.“, he said.
Ten minutes later the med evac shuttle docked with the alien ship. T'Planh was right. It was a freighter. It was a derelict, and had been all but destroyed.
T'Planh and the med techs moved swiftly through the freighter using a scanner to guide them to where any possible signs of life were.
Finally, the scanner beeped, indicating signs of life. They opened the door and walked inside. They were on the ship's bridge.
There, in what they presumed was the Captain's Chair, were two aliens huddled together. There was a man and woman. Six large cloth tote bags were next to them on the floor.
The couple, whom they assumed were spouses, held each other.
They were alive, but barely breathing.
The med techs immediately put oxygen masks on each of them and took their vital signs. They didn't appear to be badly injured, but were severely dehydrated and had signs of malnutrition.
Neither made a sound when the med techs put intravenous lines in them. The two were unresponsive, comatose, and in very grave condition.
While the med techs tended to their patients, T'Planh contacted the ship.
”It's an alien freighter. I don't have any idea what species they are. I've never seen aliens like them before. I did a scan, but nothing showed up. There's no record of their kind anywhere.
“The ship's practically destroyed, Craig. There are bodies everywhere, especially in the hallways. Whatever happened here was catastrophic.
“There's a man and a woman here on the bridge. They don't appear to be injured other than some bumps, cuts, and bruises, but they're re malnourished and severely dehydrated.
”They're unresponsive, most likely comatose, and are being given oxygen and fluids.
”The techs are running chemical profiles on them as well, and will be sending them to the doctor momentarily. We'll be leaving shortly.”, he said.
“Alright, T'Planh. I'll update Dr. Ortkhat. Maybe he'll recognize their species.
”In the meantime, see if you can get any information from the ship's computers about them, where they're from, where they've been, or what happened there. I'll see you when you get here.“, replied Craig.
T'Planh searched for any information he could find on the ship's computers about them or their race. He didn't find much, but what he did find was in a language he had never seen before. He did a scan of the language using an alien linguistics translator, but came up empty.
Looking at the couple, he asked softly,
”Who are you, and where did you come from, my fellow aliens? What happened here to cause all this?“
Once they were stable enough for the short flight to the Artemis, it was time to leave.
The man and woman were placed on stretchers. Most of their belongings were placed on the stretchers by their feet, and T'Planh carried the rest of their belongings.
After boarding the med evac shuttle, they undocked and flew to their ship's hangar bay. Dr. Ortkhat and Craig were there waiting for them, as was Clarissa.
They were quickly assessed by the doctor then immediately rushed to sick bay. Craig and Clarissa came with.
”He's in the best condition of the two. My guess is the woman made sure he had more to eat and drink than she did. The woman is in the worst shape. My guess is she went without to stretch things for him.“, said Dr. Ortkhat.
”I understand stretching food and water so they had enough, but for her to starve and dehydrate herself so the man could have more? Wouldn't he make sure he went without so she wouldn't?
“Wouldn't that be the gentlemanly thing to do?“, asked Craig.
”Craig, in many alien cultures, the Commanding Officer is practically revered, and a source of great loyalty.
“It's very possible he's the ship's commander and she wanted to make sure he stayed as healthy as possible so that he could resume command once they had been rescued.
“That, or she wanted the Creator and her people to know she'd stayed loyal to her commander as they made their journey to the stars for all eternity.
”I doubt she's a warrior. For one thing, she's far too short to be a pilot. She's barely 5 feet tall, if that. No, my best guess is that this young lady wanted to perform a final act of fealty and respect she'd otherwise be unable to do for her commander since she's not a warrior. It's probably something very important in their culture.“, Clarissa said.
“We warriors, despite our different races, can most definitely understand that, Craig.
”Warrior or not, I'd definitely do the same thing if we were in the same situation.”, T'Planh replied.
Clarissa looked through the tote bags and, with the use of the alien linguistics translator, Craig and T'Planh scoured the files T'Planh had brought back from the derelict ship.
”Wow!“, Craig exclaimed after abit.
”What is it?“, asked Clarissa.
”According to this, he is the commander of the ship. There was a collision with another ship about 6 weeks or so ago. His ship sustained major damage to the navigation and communications systems, 3 decks with depressurization and other ship-wide damage.
“He tried to get help from his government's Director of Starships, but neither he nor the Director could hear each other.
“They were completely lost and started drifting. Two weeks later they were hit by a rogue asteroid which caused catastrophic damage and killed over three quarters of the crew.
“Over the course of the next four weeks they ran out of food and drinkable water due to the refrigeration system failing.
”Everyone, including someone name To'Vedokh, who was his First Officer and, apparently, his best friend, died of injuries and starvation.
”He states he told Ke'zulah...I assume he means the woman, that they'd be going to the stars soon.“, Craig said.
”'Going to the stars' is an alien expression for dying, by the way.”, T'Planh explained.
”What's his name? Does he say?“, asked Clarissa.
”His name's Commander Vo'ptinh Zha'tolhb.“, he said.
“Is Ke'zulah his wife?”, asked Clarissa.
“No, she works in the Housekeeping Department. She cleans his cabin too, and cooks for him occasionally. He apparently really likes her, and says she's extremely spicy.
”In his last entry, dated two days ago, he says her company is exactly what he's needed during the crisis, and that he can now go to the stars happy knowing he's not alone. He also states that he hopes he's provided her with that very same comfort.
”They don't appear to be romantically involved. He doesn't mention anything about that, although it's clear he most definitely would like something to happen between them despite their 12 year age difference.
“In an off-the-record entry, he states that he told To'Vedokh that her spiciness and spunk remind him of his late wife.
“He's a widower.”, Craig said poignantly. Taking a look over at the comatose alien, he continued,
”He goes on to say that she's the first and only woman since his wife died who has, and I quote, 'gotten my nacelles primed, sparked, and ready for warp factor 10!'”
“That's SO romantic!”, gushed Clarissa.
“I can be that romantic too, you know.”, Craig said, giving her a passionate kiss.
”There's a picture in the log. He's with a woman and four children. The woman isn't Ke'zulah.“, replied T'Planh.
”Poor guy lost his wife and kids. No wonder he was grateful for her company during the crisis and as they knew they were dying!”, Craig said.
“What race are they?”, asked Clarissa.
“They're Vh'rilots. I've never heard of that race before. I've no idea where their territory is.”, T'Planh said.
